Democrat
The convention has been going strong for about an hour and 30 minutes now and I am setting up. The day is filled with meetings, caucuses and of course the general session at the end of the day. I will be snapping pictures and looking out for any relevant information to report on.
What can I say about the convention . . . this is mayhem! I have never seen so many people dedicated or at least appear dedicated enough that they took a day off from work to travel to the state's capital in order to partake in a two day event for the Texas Democratic Primary. Even though Obama seems to be the shoe in, that does not stop Hillary's delegates to voice their opinion in the last step of the tri-level primary process. Other than the actual caucuses and meetings targeted to specific individuals within the Democratic Party there is an entire floor dedicated to selling Liberal paraphernalia. You can buy anything from t-shirts with witty slogans to Obama jewelry. The big hit in the room was a life size Obama and Clinton poster model.
Founder and CEO of Election Mall Ravi Sing claims that, "the models are the actual height" and people often ask him if they can take pictures with the candidates. He chuckles and adds that he began showcasing the candidates in "the California Primary" and has not stopped since. He plans on going to Denver. "Candidates send in their images to be included," claims Singh who works from the nation's capital. Interested individuals may purchase the carboard models for about $50 a piece. Signh adds, "There are plans to expand the amount of cardboard models," and that he does expect to retire either candidate anytime soon.
In other news, Rick Noriega held a news conference hitting home with the message that Republicans are out of touch with the general public when it comes to the housing crisis, failing dollar and rising gas prices. Party officals believe that about 15,000 individuals from around the state are expected to pledge their votes this weekend. Traffic near the Austin Convention center on Red River and Cesar Chavez seemed to have higher levels of traffic then usual. I have uploaded pictures of the convention which you can check out here and do not forget to check back for more.
I have traveled to Austin this weekend for the 2008 Texas Democratic Party Convention. I will be part of the Press team that will relay the ongoing event surrounding the convention via my blog. I will be assisted by Jeff Crews from Houston who made this opportunity possible. Expect some entertaining posts and lots of pictures. The event does not officially kick off until Friday but there will be a blogger get together today at Cedar Street. Let the good times roll!
It may seem that Obama is invincible or that his charm may just be enough to carry him through the general election but if one reviews the lead that either Democratic candidate has, one would think that nothing has really changed since 2004, let alone 2000.
Recent polls put McCain behind both Democratic hopefuls but by not a large margin. In fact, McCain is only a handful of percentage points behind which translates to not much of advantage for the Democrats. The last eight years under the GOP have been dismal. Americans are concerned about every aspect of American life. The mortgage crisis, national security risks, economy, weak dollar, ill-managed war efforts, dubious justification for the war in Iraq and gasoline prices increases have devastated Americans trust in the competency of our government. The GOP has made a great case to literally hand over this election on a silver platter to Democrats. So, why is that McCain even has a viable chance. Logic would indicate that Americans are ready for change, yet half of the country seems to think otherwise as they support McCain. That means that half the voting population have not been sold on the concept that four more years of Republicans rule will result in negative ramifications for everyone.
I would surmise that the longer than usual primary has hurt Democrats from hitting home with the message that Republicans are incompetent to be trusted with another 4 years. If Obama were to win the nomination, he would have to initiate a campaign that illustrates how McCain is not different from Bush.
McCain has actually made it easy for Democrats to portray him as a continuation of Bush’s dismal policies. McCain makes it no secret about his fondness of the Bush doctrine and Democrats need to explain how this means bad news for Americans. Polls indicate that McCain's biggest issue are his ties to President Bush. If you thought the last 4 years got pretty bad, well entertain the possibility of another 4 years of the same.
This election has landslide written all over it only if the Democrats can capitalize and are successful in branding McCain as a continuation of Bush. This election should not be hard for Obama or Clinton to win but if they are not able to logically illustrate how the last 8 years have been detrimental to Americans then we risk another 4 years of GOP ineptitude and we have Democrats only to blame for.
Princeton University Political Science Professor Larry M. Bartel is causing a stir in the blogosphere with his new book "Unequal Democracy" which will be available June 2008. The matter at hand actually is a chart that visually plots the how the economy differs under Democrat or Republican Administrations. The books purpose is to show that the "increasing inequality [between the rich and poor] is not simply the result of economic forces, but the product of broad-reaching policy choices in a political system dominated by partisan ideologies and the interests of the wealthy."
The chart illustrates that income growth during Democratic presidencies is more beneficial to the poor but higher for everyone as whole compared to those of Republican administrations. Democrats as opposed to Republicans, are better on economic growth and distribution for Americans. It seems odd that there is data that supports this since the first lesson I learned in my American politics class was that the President has little control over economic policies. In fact, most policy does not have enough time to have a direct impact within an administrations tenure. This is perhaps the most perplexing issue with the chart.
Ezra Klein at The American Prospect theorizes that perhaps, "It may be that the election of Democratic executives happens, in general, in times when the culture is trending in a more egalitarian direction, and so the Democrat is being elected for the same reason distribution is improving. And, conversely, it can be the example set by presidents -- as when Reagan fired the striking air traffic controllers to usher in the era of union busting, or Bush cut taxes for the rich and opposed increases in the minimum wage -- that help steel the will of the greedy and lower the working class's expectations and estimation of their own power."
Whatever is the reason why Americans as whole do much better under a Democratic Administration, the real question is: How do Republicans explain that the economy suffers under their power? As Dick Gephardt once said, "If you want to live like a Republican, you have to vote for Democrats."
Obama gains more ground in Texas conventions - As the smoke cleared from this weekend's regional Democratic conventions, Barack Obama emerged with a majority of the state's at-large presidential nominating delegates and possibly a majority of all Texas delegates.
Justices Let Stand Ruling on Illegal F.B.I. Search - The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that the F.B.I. went too far in searching the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat accused of using his position to promote business deals in Africa.
Sources: Iran helped prod al-Sadr cease-fire - Iran was integral in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to halt attacks by his militia on Iraqi security forces, an Iraqi lawmaker said Monday. Haidar al-Abadi, who is with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa Party, said Iraqi Shiite lawmakers traveled Friday to Iran to meet with al-Sadr. They returned Sunday, the day al-Sadr told his Mehdi Army fighters to stand down.
US plans finance system overhaul - The US Treasury has revealed its blueprint for the biggest overhaul of regulation of the financial sector since the 1930s. Critics have said that the credit crunch and resultant market turmoil made a strong case for change. But Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson rejected claims that existing regulations have led to the turmoil. And he said the plan should not be implemented until current difficulties roiling financial markets are resolved.
Cubans can now stay in hotels for foreigners - New President Raúl Castro's government has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels previously reserved for foreigners, ending another restriction that had been especially irksome to ordinary citizens. Some hotels scheduled meetings with all staff members to discuss the changes, and officials said new rules also will allow Cubans to rent cars at state-run agencies for the first time.
The U.S. House has approved a FISA bill that would deny telecommunications companies immunity from performing illegal activities. In case you are not familiar with FISA, I recommend reading this or better yet this.
After the bill originally expired, one that temporarily gave immunity to companies, the GOP went on the attack claiming that America was in danger. They deemed it appropriate to title the new bill, Protect America Act, so if you voted nay you were against protecting America. Pretty smart huh?
Bush and company claimed that America was in danger due to Democrats. In fact they released an ad (watch it on YouTube) and staged a protest to help their charade.
Well, Democrats did not budge and they drafted a version of the bill that would not give immunity to telecommunication companies that broke the law. It bill was approved last week but Bush has claimed to veto it if it does not include an immunity clause.
So let me get this straight . . . the GOP and Bush are upset that Democrats did not pass the Protect America Act before it expired. They claim that because there is no law, America is in danger. The Democrats then pass the bill so that "America can be safe" but Bush is going to veto it because it does not include immunity for companies that break the law. What is it Bush? Do you really want to "Protect America" or do you just want to "Protect Companies that Break the Law". If America is in danger . . . it is because of Bush and the GOP who do not want to pass a bill that is perfectly fine. They want to endanger Americas by asking for immunity for companies that break the law and will not approve the legislation until that is done. Check out Olbermann's view on the FISA act but in particular the point I make about Bush vetoing a bill that would "Protect America."
Conservatives love to argue that Liberals would make bad administrators. Case in point, the Presidential election. In their opinion, which they are entitled to no matter how wrong it may be, fails to realize that it was a Republican Administration that has mismanaged our policies. I had never seen it from a different perspective until today and it made me quite happy.
Let's not forget that the United States was run pretty effectively for 8 years during the 90s. It was not until recently that we have run into trouble. For example our economy is in trouble and it is all due to a conservative administration. Due to their ineptitudes we can not run other aspects of our government effectively such as the military, primary education, infrastructure or health care. It is these same individuals who have sold millions of Americans on the idea that the government can not operate social programs because of their faults.
The article points out, "Interesting, isn’t it, how many of the areas we still dominate are run by . . . dare I say it . . . liberals? Higher education and entertainment are two of our powerhouse industries. Banking? Hah! Google is a Democrat stronghold. In 2004, 98% of political contributions from Google employees went to Democrats." It makes quite a good argument as to why Liberals can and should be trusted to run our government competently. It isn't like Republicans have been doing a spectacular job and have not set the bad that high. Liberal based institutions have done well delegating their agendas. Is it no surprise that there are concerns from Republicans about a Democrat run administration.
The article claims, "Enron to Iraq to Countrywide. The arc of Republican incompetence. Hollywood to Apple to Google. The arc of the ascendant and reinvented Democrats." It's true that most conservative based institution such as Finance are doing poorly nowadays and it has not helped that the Bush administration has weakened the country in all aspects. It is obvious that there is current ideological shift on how we operate business in America. Americans have lost their faith on how Republicans run the show. They weren't able to protect us from terrorist on 9/11 or a recession in our present day. The people are not foolish and they have taken note of whom Republicans benefit. It is clear that Americans will not be scared into supporting another 4 years of Republicans administrating our government. They want how our government is operated to be changed. The more important question will be though: Will Americans be able to trust Democrats to provide the change they need . . . the change they deserve?
The Presidential election is not the only big race going on in the states this year. Let's not forget that throughout the nation there are members of Congress, Govenors, State Representatives and Mayors are up for reelection etc. One in particular here in Texas is who I am going to focus on today.
Rick Noriega is a Houston Democrat vying for the Democrat spot this March Primary to face off against incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn from Dallas in November. What attracts me to this candidate versus the other one is that he has community support and in particular military experience in Afghanistan. I agree with his positions and in my opinion seems like the best candidate to out manuver Cornyn.
Noriega is also savy and understands that even though he has served his country in the military it does not mean that he is immune from the GOP smear machine. One only needs to think back to 04 when former Senator Max Cleland of Georgia was linked to Osama bin Laden. This patriot was an amputee due to the Vietnam was but was unable to survive the smear campaign.
Thus, Noriega has elected not to release his military record to the Texas Republican Party who asked for his permission to have access to the records. Some conservatives out in the blogoshphere claim that Noriega has something to hide. I would argue that's not the case, it is quite obvious that his best trait is the one that the GOP must tarnish if they were to have a chance this November.
What have the bald guys and hot chicks not been telling us about the economy? Did you know that our economy has been continually worsening because of the prospect that Democrats may take over the Presidency in 2008?! Me neither! But luckily FOX "news" is there to let us know all about it. And Neil Cavuto is right there in the line up to tell us why it's really happening-- because we rock! AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!
UPDATE: Due to Copyright Infringement Claims on behalf of Viacom the video is no longer available on YouTube. I have uploaded an excerpt of the video which you can now see but to see the video in its entirety one needs to click here and it will take you to Comedy Central's website.
On a Facebook poll, ABC news asked users if a Democrat President could keep America safe but failed to ask the same about a Republican President. Are we to assume that all Republican Presidents can keep America safe but Democrats can not. This type of bias is common for FOX news but ABC should be ashmed of themselves. They are suppose to be a neutral news source. It makes one think why they assume a Republican President can keep America safe when it was a Republican Administration that suffered one of the worst attacks on home soil in the history of the United States in 2001.
